)
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah today announced that he would lead a delegation to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to seek Central government's relief for sugarcane farmers.
Replying to discussion on the matter in the legislative council at Belgaum on Friday, he said the delegation would be taken to Delhi after December 6 to apprise the Central government on the difficulties faced by farmers and mills in the state.
“The sugar prices have crashed and the industry is in trouble. Farmers are not happy with the prices fixed for their cane for the current year. We will meet the prime minister and agriculture minister and request for a relief,” he said.
Siddaramaiah brought to the notice of the house that already Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have taken delegation to the Centre on this matter. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced that he would set up a committee to look into the crisis once again, he said.
"The state government has already written two letters to the Centre explaining the need for relief. We have asked the Central government to increase the import duty on sugar from five% to 40% and also encourage export of sugar," Siddaramaiah said.
The state government has facilitated the payment of sugarcane arrears amounting to Rs 748 crore in the last six months, he said adding that another Rs 35 crore would be paid to farmers very soon.
Meanwhile, farmers led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha have rejected the government's offer of support price of Rs 150 per tonne in addition to Rs 2,500 announced by the chief minister on Thursday. The farmers have demanded payment of at least Rs 3,000 per tonne for the current season, 43% more than the fair and remunerative price announced by the Centre for the current year.
Sugar industry sources said the mills are not in a position to pay more than Rs 2,500 per tonne for the current season, as most of them have run into losses ranging between Rs 10 crore 200 crore depending on their size and operations.
